Today's top environment news: Warmer Earth, green patents

THE REGION Disaster leads to chance for giant park in Whatcom County: One of the things washed away in a 1983 flood was the rationale for maintaining state ownership of 8,400 acres at Lake Whatcom. But now some question whether the county can afford to take back the land. Crosscut's reportUW climate scientist warms to work on food supply: University of Washington climate scientist David Battisti's research on the fundamental workings of ocean and atmosphere helped refine the understanding of global warming's regional impacts. But his interests have changed. He's now focusing some of his efforts on studying what a warming world could mean to agriculture. The Seattle Times' report

Wind farms don't hurt land prices, study finds: Wind farms have no measurable effect on nearby property values, according to a government report published last week. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory spent three years examining nearly 7,500 sales of homes in 10 communities near two dozen wind farms in nine states. The Associated Press' report

State will help with Antoine Peak preservation costs: Spokane County has received a $1.6 million state grant to offset costs of preserving Antoine Peak as a natural area just south of Spokane Valley. The Spokesman-Review's report

THE NATION & WORLD Senate panel to take up carbon capture, biofuels, research bills: A Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee will consider nine energy and climate policy bills this week, covering topics from engineering education and wind energy research to carbon capture technology development incentives and biofuels for small engines. Greenwire's report

Obama administration will speed reviews of green patents: The Obama administration vowed to streamline the patent review process for green technologies and committed $100 million for federal research, development and demonstration projects. Greenwire's report

Current decade hottest on instrumental record, UK's Meteorological Office says: The current decade has been by far the warmest decade on instrumental record, the U.K.'s Meteorological Office said today as it released new figures at the climate change talks in Copenhagen. Dow Jones' report